“I’m just going to keep on striving to get better,” the rookie forward said before Friday night’s game against Erie at Memorial Civic Center. “This is just another step. This is not the end. This is not where I want to be. It’s another step to where I want to be.”

Jones signed a contract Thursday with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Charge’s NBA parent club.

“If anything, it makes me want to work harder to prove myself, to get a longer term contract, a better contract,” said Jones, who was immediately assigned back to Canton. “I’m just going to keep on working.”

It was just a matter of time before an NBA team signed Jones, whom Charge head coach Alex Jensen called, “Probably the highest-rated undrafted player.”

Jones entered Friday averaging 27.0 points and 13.7 rebounds. The Cavaliers get to protect Jones from another NBA team while allowing him to continue to grow in the pro game.

“It’s the epitome of what the D-League is for, of why an NBA franchise would want to own a D-League team: Young players that are right on the edge of playing in the NBA,” Jensen said. “Here they get to play, do the same stuff (they would be doing with an NBA team) and get better. It’s good for all parties.”

THIS AND THAT

• Charge guard D’Aundray Brown missed his second straight game Friday with a sprained ankle and is doubtful for Saturday’s game in Erie (Pa.). After that, the Charge are off for a full week, so Brown will have plenty of time to get healthy.

• Look for the Charge to add a player before next weekend’s game in Springfield (Ma.). With Jones being an assigned player now, that opens a spot on the Charge’s 10-man D-League roster.

• Scouts from the New Orleans Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers were at the Civic Center on Friday.